Roger Hernandez of El Barrio Unite said, “there’s nothing about this plan that we support, we’re totally opposed to it. We’re here to demonstrate our sentiment and asking people to Wake Up and realize the wool is being pulled over your eyes. Don’t lose that honest opportunity to protect housing for your kids.”

Shirley Belton, aka, “Aunt Shirley” of the forgotten borough of the Staten Island spoke about the conditions at Lincoln houses containing mold and being run down.Activist, Josmar Trujillo, speaking at Thursday’s event encouraging people to come together

Mayor de Blasio, “gentrifier-in-chief,” has designated NYC a “sanctuary city” in an effort to protect immigrants from racist and xenophobic Trump Executive Orders. For many NYC immigrants, however, our communities are under siege as we live in the instability and crisis as a result of the Mayor’s own rezoning policy that is displacing us from the very places that we seek refuge.

On Thursday outside City Hall while Trump pushes people out of the border, de Blasio pushes people out of their homes and neighborhoods to benefit his political aspirations and ultra-rich developers. They are two sides of the same coin: both destroy immigrant families and communities of color. We say no more to racism and displacement!

Join us to demand Mayor de Blasio step down!

The demands:

1) End racism in city planning. Pass community-based “People First” plans like the Chinatown Working Group rezoning plan.

2) End public funding for luxury development, such as 421-a. Instead; use public resources to preserve and build more permanent low-income housing.

3) Stop privatization of public land and assets.

4) Mayor de Blasio and those in City Council who also collude with developers, step down.